Jonathan1990
Active Member
I've heard it's one of the most strictest countries in the world. They don't allow people from some areas like USA and South Korea. Don't know about the UK.
Could People From The UK Visit North Korea?
- Thread starter Jonathan1990
- Start date
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
not-bono-ever
meh
yes but you cannot just turn up an get a VoA. tour groups pre arrange visas in Beiijing and you pick thr up the day before your air koryo flight/ train to NK. its quite easy if you are in a group.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
It's getting the visa for Wigan that's the problem though.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
You can get a visa in Acton.
N Korea does permit Americans to visit, but the Land of the Free denies its citizens permission to visit.
N Korea does permit Americans to visit, but the Land of the Free denies its citizens permission to visit.
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
2hats
Dust.
It's not particularly difficult to enter. Apart from US citizens (who are banned from travelling there by the US government; the North Koreans are happy for them to travel and impose no restrictions on them) and ROK citizens (who need special authorisation to travel from both their own and the DPRK governments), everyone else can travel on a simple tourist card.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
You can visit but you have to first place an opened copy of Viz on your head and cut the hair around it before they'll let you in.
krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
An unscheduled visit to the DPRK
BBC News - US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border
BBC News - US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border
Travis King: US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border
The United Nations command says Travis King was on a DMZ tour when he crossed without permission.
www.bbc.co.uk
krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
Is it down to age and naievity or was life in the army/USA intolerable for him?
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Might be because the US Army is left wing and not full of gun nuts according to some Urban posters
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
Spur of the moment idiocy I imagine.
I have no wish to live in the US - it's media, it's culture, it's politics - but I think you'd really struggle to coherently think that whatever his problems with his employer, or the US in general were, they'd be worse than living in North Korea...
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Act in haste and repent at leisure
A career in Korea
As a Yank in a camp
Second line needs a bit of work
As a Yank in a camp
Second line needs a bit of work
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Not the first case of this. There've been a few US military personnel who basically defected to the DPRK. The one guy that comes to mind is James Dresnok - who had very little to live for in the US, and IIRC also wasn't exactly flavour of the month with his superiors in the US army either. By all accounts he was treated quite well by the regime and got married and starred in North Korean movies playing a white American guy, of course.
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
I was always interested in the NATO soldiers who went to East Germany during the Cold War - from what I've read of them it was all a bit depressing. Initially all very exciting and a good decision, and then a few years later just a lonely drudgery. Never trusted by the GDR, lots of their families never spoke to them again, and then when the wall came down they didn't even get the excitement of any kind of attempt at retribution - I think there were a couple who even got their MOD pensions.
Life in East Germany would be a great deal better than life in North Korea.
Silly sod, he's going to have a shit life now, whatever happens. The optimisation of youth eh, always lets you down....
Life in East Germany would be a great deal better than life in North Korea.
Silly sod, he's going to have a shit life now, whatever happens. The optimisation of youth eh, always lets you down....
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
We have some friends who went there on a tour some years ago, everything was stage-managed, where they went, what they saw. Everyone had a personal guide all the time and photo taking was strictly monitored. No sneaking off to check out bargains down a side street. They said it was completely surreal with 8 lane highways with kids playing in the middle because there was no traffic and apartment blocks where all the lights came on at once and were obviously just empty shells for show.
They went Seoul the next year and reckon the South Koreans are decades ahead of the North.
Seoul is on mine and Mrs Q's bucket list when we retire but can't see us going to Pyongyang.
They went Seoul the next year and reckon the South Koreans are decades ahead of the North.
Seoul is on mine and Mrs Q's bucket list when we retire but can't see us going to Pyongyang.
JimW
支那暗杀团
AP has a nice round up of some past defectors/visits gone wrong: A look at other Americans who have crossed into North Korea over the years
ouirdeaux
Caring, Understanding, Non-judgemental Type
Don't know anything about defecting soldiers, but ordinary citizens of West Germany who tried to emigrate to the GDR -- there weren't many, but there were a few who did it out of ideological reasons or because they were romantically involved with someone there -- were held in a special camp for a while, and one of the things that they did there was to carry out a psychiatric examination. Given the ones who made it through, I'd be curious as to who got rejected.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
I can understand defectors being detained and assessed in the GDR. Both sides sent spies as defectors. I've met people from the UK who have holidayed ( Progress Tours based in Yorkshire offered coach trips) and who have worked in the GDR . I have also met people from Africa who studied/trained in the GDR. Relatively easy to visit.
flypanam
Eat crisps
I had a mate that visit in 201? , he was taking part in the Pyongyang marathon. He, applied for a visa and was accepted straight away. Incredibly controlled visit, he was surprised by the amount of bars there were. He even was allowed to visit one. He’s glad he went but he often dwells on the fact that one moment of stupidity and he could have been another Otto Warmbier.
ouirdeaux
Caring, Understanding, Non-judgemental Type
I worked in the GDR, so I'm curious as to what the people you knew did there. In my case it wasn't in the least ideological, just a joke that got out of hand.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
One was at publishing company another an engineer , can’t remember what another bloke did . What did you do, how did you end up there ?
He must really like buckwheat noodlesAn unscheduled visit to the DPRK
BBC News - US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border
Travis King: US soldier held by North Korea after crossing border
The United Nations command says Travis King was on a DMZ tour when he crossed without permission.www.bbc.co.uk
klang
klang
if your parents were in the DKP (West) you were allowed to go to the Young Pioneer camps in the GDR. I went to a few. One time, my sister was asked to extend her Pioneer trip from the GDR to Angola, via Moscow. My parents were telephoned and they agreed without a second thought. They had no reason not to trust the party.
So off she went, to return a couple of weeks later. She was 14 at the time.
